1) A sound emanating from the face due to poor fitness secondary to academia
2) A /Euro/ training method involving hill climbs on a 45-pound mass-produced monster
3) An LBS attitude subsequent to a repair request to said monster
4) Because every bike deserves to be ridden … by somebody

Hello, world. After doing some soul-searching, I’ve decided that I am somewhere between “enthusiast” and “dilettante” with respect to my life on wheels. That being said, I’ve managed to commute to school/work each day for the past seven years on the most beater-riffic of bikes: five years on a 2002 Huffy Alpine, then the last two on a refurbished pink/purple 1996 Diamondback Topanga. I am male.

The goal: To commute on a bike that appears shitty enough to be unstealable in Cambridge/Providence/Dorchester. So far, success.

From this humble throne, I’ve attempted a great deal of interpersonal cycling advocacy and have dabbled in the more formal varieties in Boston and its vassal states. I fantasize about riding in a Critical Mass. Unfortunately, good Republicans don’t.

Most of all, I loathe becoming a *bike snob*. Cycling excites me as it offers a level playing field: independence, empowerment, exercise, and recreation to anyone willing to learn. (And, for those who have quaffed the Kool-Ade, status). In a city as compact as Boston is, cycling is faster and less expensive than taking public transportation – as long as your bike doesn’t get stolen.

I often feel the glow of camaraderie at the sight of teen mobs roaming on tricked-out BMX bikes – even with their blatant disregard of traffic laws and decency. On a battered department store bike, I’d blend into the happy environment of delinquency. Unfortunately, my subsequent acquisition of legitimate bikes and participation in college-level racing may have put me on my way out of that salt-of-the-earth state. Spandex begets snobbery. But the memories of true “community” biking are still warm.

The following list of honor is a catalog of all the bikes that I’ve acquired – as far as I can remember.